Team Spotlight - Joanna Robinson, East Yorkshire Rivers Trust
Shining a light on staff employed by GYR partners
The Partnership opened its first window to access funding from the £12.2M core project funding in May 2025, part of which is to provide support GYR partners with funding for early project development and staffing.
Joanna joined East Yorkshire Rivers Trust in February 2025 as a Project Officer, working as part of the GYR partnership. A lot of her work is currently taking place in the field, assessing barriers to identify what opportunities exist.
With a degree in Geography and a Master’s in Environmental Change, Management and Monitoring, Joanna brings a wealth of experience to the team. She previously worked as a field ecologist and as a water monitor with the Environment Agency.
Joanna has had a love for nature from a young age. She enjoys exploring the outdoors, birdwatching and hiking. She is particularly passionate about enhancing the biodiversity of our unique waterways and raising awareness of the rich and often overlooked life beneath the water’s surface.
“I’ve always been fascinated by English wildlife and how we can live and work alongside it. That fascination is what drew me to my role with the Trust, where I help restore the health and connectivity of our rivers across Yorkshire. Rivers are at their best when they’re allowed to flow freely, and each site I visit is another step toward returning these ecosystems to their natural rhythm.
I’m proud to be part of this collaborative effort to restore Yorkshire’s rivers. Seeing a river returning to the way it naturally wants to flow is amazing — and knowing that wildlife will find it and use it again is an incredible reward for everyone involved.”